Volker to Newsmax: Trump Must Press Putin, Not Appease Him

Kurt Volker, former U.S. ambassador to NATO, told Newsmax on Wednesday that President Donald Trump needs to apply maximum pressure on Vladimir Putin instead of giving the Russian president an opening to declare victory in Ukraine as a means to end the war.

Volker's comments on "American Agenda" came hours after a Russian drone attack in Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city, damaged a kindergarten, killed a 40-year-old man and injured nine others. Russia also launched a massive drone and missile barrage on Kyiv overnight that killed six and injured 29.

"What President Trump is trying to do is give Putin the opening to declare some kind of victory and end the war," Volker said. "He doesn't want this to be confrontational.

"The problem is that Putin takes advantage of President Trump when he does that. He lies to him, says he'll meet with [Ukrainian President Volodymyr] Zelenskyy, then says he won't, says he'll do a deal, then says he won't.

"So he's just playing for time while raising the stakes on the battlefield, as we just saw with that horrific report of attacks on children. He's trying to raise the pressure on us to really want to get a deal immediately, even if it means sacrificing more of Ukraine.

"We have to turn that around, put real sanctions pressure on Russia's oil and gas industry, and also give Ukraine weapons that will actually hit deep inside Russia so that they can take out those drone factories, those missile factories that Russia is using," he said.

Volker, a U.S. special envoy to Ukraine under Trump's first administration, said the U.S. should supply Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine, but only if Putin doesn't agree to a ceasefire.

"I would do a deal with Ukraine if Putin agrees to a ceasefire, you don't use them," he said. "You just keep them as a deterrent. But if they don't agree to a ceasefire, take out those things that are hitting you."

Trump announced last week, after talking to Putin, that the two planned to meet later this month in Budapest, Hungary. But Trump said Tuesday that the meeting has been put on hold because it would be a waste of time.

The call with Putin came a day before Trump hosted Zelenskyy at the White House.

"Putin was trying to mess up Trump's meeting with Zelenskyy," Volker said. "Trump was gearing up to provide Tomahawks to Ukraine.

"He was using that as leverage on Putin to get Putin to make a deal, so Putin made it sound like he's ready to meet, ready to make a deal, and Trump therefore pushed off the decision on the Tomahawks till some point down the road [and] agreed to meet with Putin."

Volker said Trump had Secretary of State Marco Rubio set up the Budapest meeting instead of special envoy Steve Witkoff, who arranged the Alaska summit between Trump and Putin. He said Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov made clear to Rubio that Russia "still has these maximalist demands."

"Lavrov says that any territory in Ukraine that Russia does not control, therefore means it's controlled by Nazis," Volker said. "So, this is an absolutist view of eliminating the Ukrainian government and taking over the entire country.

"There is no basis for meeting with Russia if that's what they're going to talk about. So that's why the White House called it off.

"It will be interesting now to see whether Trump goes back to a phase of trying to put some pressure on Putin to actually get him to end the war," he added.

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